{"id":303,"date":"2012-06-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2012\/06\/07\/thursdays-tips-dont-drain-tension\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-dont-drain-tension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-dont-drain-tension\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Tips: Don’t Drain the Tension"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHomeostasis. Are you familiar with this term? Here\u2019s the
\ndefinition: a state of equilibrium or a tendency to reach equilibrium<\/i>. People
\nstrive for this in our lives because no one wants to be out of control or in
\npain, or whatever it is that takes us out of balance. Makes sense. It\u2019s
\ncommendable, even, but our characters cannot have a homeostatic existence. If
\nthey do, our writing is dry and without tension. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLet me explain. Because writers are human and like peace,
\ncomposure, and balance, we tend to help (let?) our characters have that as well.
\nA threat approaches in the story and we instinctively try to squelch it. We
\ncome up with a quick fix and since we\u2019re the writer, we enact it. There.
\nProblem solved. Except, now we\u2019ve unplugged the hole and drained out all the
\ntension that our story inherently tried to gain. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI believe one of the reasons writers do this is because they\u2019re afraid of not keeping
\nthings straight. That reasoning might fit the SOTP (seat-of-the-pants\/non-outlining)
\nwriters. If they solve the problem quickly, they don\u2019t have to remember to tie
\nup the thread. Solution: make yourself a note and get back to it later. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnother reason is we’d rather not feel tense. I was watching a TV show the other night and I noticed how tense I felt. Crazy. It was just a television show. But I wanted to avoid the tension playing out on the screen. Same is true in our writing. We’d rather avoid the tension we’ll feel as we write the scene. But a good story, one that shows the contrast of light against dark (Christian fiction), must include some darkness. Don’t avoid it. Include it. Then the ultimate breakthrough will be all the more impactful and emotional. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe best writing involves writer vulnerability. Writers must make themselves vulnerable, dig deeply into their own painful or stressful times, and include those elements on the page in order for readers to: 1) relate; 2) sympathize; and 3) stay engaged. Another reason not to return things to calm too soon.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA story without tension is not a (readable or enjoyable)
\nstory. We must have tension. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAs you\u2019re writing your story, catch yourself if you find your
\ncharacter solving a problem too quickly. Let problems linger. Let your
\ncharacters suffer. Don\u2019t bring them back to a calm state too quickly. In fact,
\nlet the tension escalate by raising the stakes. Let things get worse. Let
\nconflicts go unresolved for a while. Readers will love you for it as they keep
\nturning pages.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeostasis. Are you familiar with this term? Here\u2019s the definition: a state of equilibrium or a tendency to reach equilibrium. People strive for this in our lives because no one wants to be out of control or in pain, or whatever it is that takes us out of balance. Makes sense. It\u2019s commendable, even, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[101,222,223,224,138,23],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-balance","tag-fiction","tag-stakes","tag-tension","tag-thursdays-tips","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}